


Alohomora

by french_crap



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 10:41:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/french_crap/pseuds/french_crap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teddy Lupin is asked to do something he has refused to do for many years now. He refuses once more. But then, alone in his dorm, he realises that no one forces him and that what he fears is also the strenght in him that can help him fight this very fear.</p><p>Just a little character study.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alohomora

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little para sample I just wrote for a roleplay. You can read it as a goodnight story, it's not long or mindblowing, just a little drabble about the adorable little Teddy Lupin.

Teddy's white hand tightened its grip around his wand. Surprisingly steady for his heavily beating heart, he performed the opening charm and the wardrobe opened with a click. It was just a small twitch of the hand but it had cost more energy and willpower than any other spells had today.

\---

It was his fourth year at Hogwarts, and seemingly just another Wednesday. He wore his hair pink today – as a joke that was mainly understood by muggle-born witches – and his shoes tied together over his shoulder. Sometimes Teddy simply didn't feel like putting on socks and shoes, it made him feel so restricted, so caged in. He liked feeling the cold marble under his bare feet, he liked feeling the soft earth when he walked down to the lake, he liked feeling connected to the ground he was walking on. Yet, once he arrived in front of the door of his classroom, he plopped down on said ground to slip into his black Oxforder's. Without socks, nevertheless.

“Theodore Lupin, ten minutes late again. What's your excuse this time?”

“Not Theodore, but nice try. And I don't know what you are talking about, Professor, I am not in the least late. I am, in fact, super-extra early for the class tomorrow!”

Under exasperated sighs and giggles, Teddy went on to sit at his desk. But there were no desks. All tables and chair had been moved to the side, in the very middle of the room stood a single wardrobe.

“We're learning the Ridikkulus spell today.” one of his classmates whispered as Teddy looked at him questioningly, nodding toward the wardrobe. “How to fight a boggart.”

“Oh, hell, no!” Teddy exclaimed for the entire class to hear. The Professor, who had picked up on talking again, paused once more and tilted his head to the side.

“What is it now, Mr. Lupin?”

Teddy, crossing his arms defiantly, bit his tongue. Coming too late to a class was one thing, but actually interrupting and being rude and childishly rebellious during DADA was in no way something he enjoyed doing. He had promised it to himself. No pranks in DADA.

But right now, he couldn't. He knew what was going to happen, he had faced boggarts before, and he simply couldn't do it, not in front of everyone. And so he took a deep breath and explained:

“Professor, I don't mean to be rude but I fear I can't proceed learning about the spell today.”

“So, and why is that?” the professor asked, eyebrows arched up.

“The truth is, sir, I seem to have a serious cold that doesn't allow me to laugh today. The toad in my throat is only very small but it might grow if I laugh, or even chuckle, sir, and the mere idea of having an amphibian going through puberty in my throat worries me, sir. I hope you understand, sir.”

Giggles arose around him again but Teddy felt the pink of his hair growing darker and darker. He didn't have to see it, he knew he couldn't control the way the tips were slowly turning grey, as if they were rotting, and he knew that if he waited much longer and let the panic overwhelm him, his entire hair would soon be pitch black.

Luckily no one seemed to notice the change, merely the professor gave him a little frown. With a serious nod and a swish of the wand he let a piece of paper appear and fly over to Teddy. The student took the piece of paper and looked at it.

“You are free to go, Mr. Lupin, but I expect you to visit in the hospital wing and to write me a three foot long essay on the importance of the Ridikkulus spell.”

“But sir-”

“Until tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Lupin.”

Teddy nodded, shoving the piece of paper into his pocket to later give it to the nurse in the hospital wing. “Yes, professor.” He left.

Late that night, after the assistant nurse had let him go back to his room, he had found himself unable to sleep. His roommates were snoring soundly in their beds while Teddy's heart still beat heavily in his chest. Yes, he had faced boggarts before. His aunt's house was full of them, and he knew how to fight them for many years now. Theoretically, that is. Practically, he had never managed to make himself laugh over the ridiculous shape of a newly transformed boggart. He couldn't. He just couldn't.

His hand drove into his hair. It was probably still black. “For Merlin's sake, Teddy Lupin, you aren't your father's son if you give up before trying, are you?” he murmured to himself, almost like a mantra. “It's not real after all, just like your fear. You can do it. You should do it.”

Grabbing a coat to wrap himself in and his wand, Teddy made his way out of the Hufflepuff Common Room. His naked feet carried him up to the DADA tower, silently, without any light shimmering on the tip of his wand. There was no reason to. The marble under him told him the right way, the ground itself let him feel where he had to go.

And then he stood there. In the classroom he had left so hastily this morning, in front of the wardrobe, and his wand was pointing on the keyhole. As the boggart inside felt his presence, the wardrobe started to move. Teddy took a step back. Was this really a good idea? He was alone. Neither Draco nor Ginny were able to help him this time. He was completely alone facing his greatest fear. A fear he had never been able to fight until this very point.

For a few, seemingly endless minutes Teddy just stood there, the wand ready to perform its spell. And then he felt it. He felt the strength coming from the ground underneath his feat, the energy coming from his suddenly yellow coloured hair and the will coming from his wand.

“Alohomora.” The wardrobe opened.


End file.
